College hockey’s version of March Madness gets underway this afternoon and the 16 teams that are in the tournament, they know that one loss ends their season. How do things shake out in the four regionals? Safe to say we’ve got 12 curious games to get us through the weekend.

Here’s the quick and the dirty on the first round games as well as my idea on how things shake out as the road to Pittsburgh and the Frozen Four sets up.

Northeast Regional – Manchester, NH

1. UMass-Lowell vs. 4. Wisconsin

Lowell took down their first ever Hockey East tournament title while Wisconsin roared through the WCHA to win that conference’s tourney. For a 1-4 game, this one’s a doozy. The Badgers have the tourney history, while the Riverhawks have been rolling since December. Lowell will go as far as freshman goalie Connor Hellebuyck takes them.

Both teams bowed out of their conference tournaments early. Both teams landed extended vacations before the NCAAs. Who does the break help? Who does it hinder? New Hampshire has home ice and Denver didn’t do well in 2010 when they headed east for the tournament. Hmm…

It’s the top seeded team in the tournament against the last seeded team. In the NCAA basketball tourney that usually means the top team wins in a walk. Not so for the hockey tourney. That said, Canisius is on a roll after winning the Atlantic Hockey tournament. Then again, they were not overly good this season. Quinnipiac lost in the semifinals of the ECAC tournament to Brown. This could wind up being the closes of the 1 vs. 4 games in this year.

An intriguing match-up of what could’ve been last year’s national championship game had Union beaten Ferris State in the national semis. BC is the perennial vampire of the playoffs. They’re not done until you put the stake through their heart. Union is on fire having won their way through the ECAC tournament on their way to the title. The Dutchmen are a chic pick to make the Frozen Four out of this region and that’s just what Boston College (with Jerry York back behind the bench) likes to hear.

The Fighting Irish battled their way through to win the final CCHA tournament and earn a No. 1 seed. Lucky for them they get to face the WCHA’s co-regular season champs from St. Cloud State. Some reward. Jeff Jackson’s Fighting Irish played strong throughout the playoffs while St. Cloud disappointed in the Final Five. This one’s an honest to goodness toss-up, but keep in mind that the Huskies did not fare too well out of conference this season (swept by Northern Michigan and New Hampshire, lost to Rensselaer).

The Redhawks have become a fixture in the NCAAs. Unfortunately for them, they have yet to win a national title. They came up short in the CCHA tournament so they’ve got motivation to prove they’re better than that. Minnesota St. is making their first appearance in the NCAAs since 2003 and don’t look for them to take the “glad to be selected” approach. They’re a darkhorse team to come out of this region.

The Golden Gophers were a co-dominant force this season along with Quinnipiac and are the definitive No. 2 team in the tournament. Getting rewarded with a mercurial Yale squad doesn’t make life easy for them. If they run into the Bulldogs team that has goalie Jeff Malcolm stopping everything and them pushing the pace offensively, Minnesota will have their hands full. If they get the Yale team that “showed up” in the ECAC semis and consolation game, it’ll be a walk in the park as they haven’t scored a goal since the ECAC quarterfinals against St. Lawrence.

The formerly Fighting Sioux boast perhaps the best offensive one-two punch in the tournament with Hobey Baker finalist forwards Danny Kristo and Corban Knight. They’ve combined for 99 points this season alone but Niagara boasts a Hobey finalist of their own in junior goalie Carsen Chubak. You can debate the competition he’s faced but his numbers do all the talking (1.91 GAA, .938 SV%). North Dakota is capable of winning it all, but Niagara will look to give them fits.

Prediction: Keep in mind I’m terrible at predictions (but you knew that by now) but I like UMass-Lowell, Boston College, Minnesota St., and North Dakota to make it to Pittsburgh. If I go 0-for-4 on those picks, I won’t be the least bit surprised. There’s no overly dominant team with a gift-like road to the Frozen Four this year.

One wants in the postseason, the other wants the No. 1 seed in Hockey East.

No. 4 New Hampshire Wildcats (18-8-6) vs. Maine Black Bears (10-17-7)

It’s the final weekend of the conference schedule in Hockey East, and both New Hampshire and Maine have things to figure out heading into their rivalry battle. UNH is seeking to finish No. 1 overall in the conference and needs to score a pair of wins while hoping UMass-Lowell slips up against Providence to make it happen. If the Wildcats needed extra motivation, being able to keep Maine out of the Hockey East tournament should do it.

The Black Bears are hanging on to the eighth spot in the conference by just one point over UMass and while they can’t hope for the Minutemen to just lose to Merrimack, it’s on them to find a way to slow down a New Hampshire attack that’s done well this season.

UNH rolls with five players who fill the net regularly (Kevin Goumas leads the way with 37 points) and it’ll be up to Maine’s junior goalie, Martin Ouellette, to hold down the fort. He’s done well since taking over for Dan Sullivan and after the disastrous start to their season, Maine just making the Hockey East tournament would be a great accomplishment. Maine’s not-so potent offense will have to deal with one of the better goalies in the country in sophomore Casey DeSmith who made headlines earlier this season for UNH.

NHL prospects to watch

This game is light on draftees with just six players in all who’ve had their name called. New Hampshire has just two with Eric Knodel (D – JR – Toronto) and Greg Burke (F – SR – Washington). Knodel is a solid blue liner and he and Trevor van Riemsdyk (James’ younger brother) are their two most productive defensemen. Goumas, an undrafted junior forward, has been the set-up man for fellow undrafted guys like John Henrion, Austin Block, and Grayson Downing (38 combined goals).

Maine, meanwhile, rolls with four draftees led by Ouellette, a Blue Jackets prospect. Joining him are a pair of solid freshmen forwards in Devin Shore (Dallas) and Ben Hutton (Vancouver). Shore is second on the team in points to undrafted senior Joey Diamond. Senior defenseman Nick Pryor (Anaheim) has played in 17 games this year earning just two assists.

We’re taking you “Back To Class” for our roundup of the weekend’s action in college hockey. Look for more college hockey on NBCSN this Friday night as WCHA rivals Nebraska-Omaha and Wisconsin face off at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Until this past weekend happened, Merrimack College was feeling good and sitting atop Hockey East. With schools like Boston College, New Hampshire, UMass-Lowell, and Providence all in the mix for first as well, it would seem likely that Merrimack would be sitting well for a shot at the NCAA tournament.

Alas, that’s where the fun mathematics of the Pairwise Rankings (PWR) comes into play. Sure, Merrimack is near the top of one of the strongest conferences in the country (they’re now one point behind BC, UNH, and PC) but they sit tied for 23rd in PWR. Getting in the top 16 is what helps you stand your best chances at getting a spot in the tournament and as it stands now, unless Merrimack wins the Hockey East tournament, they’ll be sitting at home.

What’s killing them is their record against teams under consideration (TUC). They’re just 6-8-2 against schools who could wind up in the NCAAs. Compare that with their equals in the HEA standings. BC is 9-4-3 and UNH is 11-7-3. Providence finds themselves in a worse spot than Merrimack as they’re a miserable 4-8-5 against TUCs. Meanwhile, UMass-Lowell sits 11th in PWR with a 5-7-0 record against TUCs but are 18-9-2 overall this year.

What can teams like Merrimack and Providence do now to help their chances? Just win, baby. It’s the simplest of mathematics.

That’s the fun part of all this. With all the acronyms and records and varying ways of breaking things down, it just boils down to taking care of your own business and then hoping you get a little help elsewhere just in case.

Feel-good story of the weekend: Give it up for Colgate’s Spiro Goulakos. The sophomore played in his first game back since undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma on Friday night and scored the game-winning goal to help the Raiders beat Union College 4-1.

Conferences wrapping up: Both the ECAC and CCHA wrap up their conference schedules this weekend. Atlantic Hockey, Hockey East, and the WCHA are done next week. Let’s look at who gets done this week.

Quinnipiac has the top seed in the ECAC wrapped up. RPI, St. Lawrence, Yale, Union, and Dartmouth are hoping to finish in the top-four to get first round byes. SLU faces Union on Friday and RPI on Saturday.

In the CCHA, Miami, Notre Dame, Western Michigan, Ferris State, and Ohio State all have first round byes in their tourney secured. Miami has the top seed to themselves, but WMU and Notre Dame are duking it out for second and FSU and OSU are battling for fourth.

The rest of the conference is a bit of a mess below that. Alaska is all but certain to face Michigan State in the opening round while Bowling Green, Lake Superior State, Michigan and Northern Michigan could all find ways to jumble their pairings.

We’re taking you “Back To Class” for our roundup of the weekend’s action in college hockey. Look for more college hockey on NBCSN Friday night, January 4 as Nebraska-Omaha takes on Colorado College.

It’s never easy being the top dog. In college football, being the No. 1 team means always having to watch your back when the voters deem you to be the best team in the land and it’s no different in college hockey. A pair of Hockey East teams learned that in the last couple of weeks and it was the same team that taught them that lesson. Jim Connelly of USCHO.com examines things a bit closer.

Two weeks ago, Boston College’s run as the top team in the country came to an end thanks to a 4-1 loss to Boston University. When New Hampshire took over as the No. 1 team this week, again it would be BU teaching them a lesson on Thursday taking them out with a 3-2 victory.

Being the top dog is never easy. Ever. It puts an instant target on your back to have everyone come after you. Seeing how it was BU that managed to earn wins in two out of three games against top-ranked opponents, it makes you believe Jack Parker’s team has a little something extra to their game.

Considering Boston University was ranked No. 7 in the country last Monday, they’re due for a boost after beating UNH and Maine. They might want to avoid the top spot for the time being.

***

So long, Cissé: Redshirt sophomore Yasin Cissé left Boston University to pick up and play for QMJHL Blainville-Broisbriand and BU coach Jack Parker was more than honest in his assessment of his game. “He’s really struggling in every phase of his life because hockey’s not going the way he wants it to go.” Uh… Ouch. For what it’s worth, Cissé scored a goal in his first game with Blainville-Broisbriand.

So about that “Yerdon Jinx”: Denver University has gone winless in six straight games after tying North Dakota on Friday night and losing 6-3 to the former Fighting Sioux on Saturday. When I highlighted the Pioneers a couple weeks ago, I thought their bad weekend losing to Yale and UNH was curious. I didn’t think it signaled a full-on early season meltdown.

Yale’s bad weekend: The Yale Bulldogs were starting to let their presence be known in the ECAC. That is until RPI and Union showed up at The Whale this weekend and took three of four points from them. An embarrassing 6-1 loss to Rensselaer and a 2-2 tie with the Dutchmen should take Yale down a notch after cracking the USA Hockey/USA Today polls at 15 last week.

Alabama-Huntsville’s plight: While things are rough this season for the UAH Chargers, they’re still plugging along in hopes of landing a spot in the WCHA for the future. Matt Semsich of USCHO.com has a good piece on what coach Kurt Kleinendorst has to deal with in a tough position there.

We’re taking you “Back To Class” for our roundup of the weekend’s action in college hockey. Look for more college hockey on NBCSN Friday, November 30 with a monster doubleheader featuring BU vs. BC and Denver vs. Wisconsin.

Before the season began, New Hampshire wasn’t really on the national radar. When the USA Hockey/USA Today preseason poll came out, the Wildcats didn’t crack the Top 15. They got votes, but only enough to put them 21st in the country and three other Hockey East schools were ranked above them. With just 58 college hockey programs, that’s not too impressive.

A funny thing happened with Dick Umile’s program: They started shutting down everyone thanks to sophomore goalie Casey DeSmith.

DeSmith is the only guy New Hampshire has played in goal this year and he’s all they’ve needed. He’s 8-1-1 with a microscopic 1.19 goals against average and an astounding .961 save percentage.

They’ve already beaten Boston University and St. Cloud State twice and BU head coach Jack Parker says UNH is “the other best team in Hockey East.” For a team that had low expectations, they’re proving the experts and coaches very wrong so far this year and have climbed to sixth (and possibly higher) in the nation.

***

No peace in the mountains: No. 2 Denver and No. 14 Colorado College had a typical raucous weekend of games, but it would be the Pioneers who came away with the first weekend sweep of their bitter in-state rivals since 2005. Friday’s wild 6-5 game followed by a 6-2 Saturday win helped show that Denver is for real out west.

Kudos to the little guy: Give it up to little Alabama-Huntsville for finally getting off the schneid earning their first win of the year, a 2-1 road victory over Lake Superior State. The Chargers were the last school to get a win this season. Perhaps knocking off a future WCHA team will help convince them to open their doors to the unaffiliated school rather than leave them for dead on their own.

Naughty, naughty: Alaska will be losing two scholarships thanks to a mild spanking by the NCAA. The mild violations were self-reported by the school and the hockey team wasn’t the only one to get dinged because of the faux pas. Here’s to hoping you’ve now got the Danger Danger song “Naughty Naughty” stuck in your head.